The First Christmas Tree: Easton or Bethlehem? It Depends.

Every holiday season, the same question resurfaces in Pennsylvania history circles, Easton and Bethlehem tourism meetings, social media posts, and probably a few living rooms: where was the first Christmas tree displayed in America?

And if you are not asking yourself that question, why not?

We put together a somewhat comprehensive breakdown of both cities’ arguments and what we think the answer is. Full disclosure, it’s all about semantics.

And there are a lot of other places that make claim that they were the first.

We’re just going to ignore all of those…

Let’s begin…

Bethlehem often points to the Moravian community and the year 1747 (Visit Historic Bethlehem).

Easton, meanwhile, claims an 1816 first Christmas tree brought indoors by German settlers (Roadside America).

Both claims appear frequently in reputable sources, and both are accurate depending on what someone means by “Christmas tree.”

The disagreement is not really about dates or towns as much as it is about definitions. Early American references use the term “Christmas tree” to describe different things, and modern retellings often collapse those distinctions into a single idea.

Bethlehem’s claim centers on the Moravian community and a documented Christmas celebration in 1747. According to Visit Historic Bethlehem, a Christmas tree decorated with candles, apples, and Bible verses was displayed in the Gemeinhaus and is frequently cited as the first documented Christmas tree in America (Visit Historic Bethlehem).

However, several major historical explainers clarify that this early Moravian “tree” was likely not a cut evergreen.

History.com describes it as a wooden pyramid structure decorated with greenery and candles, a common form in German speaking communities at the time (History.com). Texas A&M AgriLife Extension similarly notes the Bethlehem record while explaining that the earliest Moravian trees were constructed forms rather than full evergreen trees brought indoors (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension).

That distinction matters because Easton’s claim is usually framed differently. Easton is often credited locally with the first “real” Christmas tree in America, dated to 1816 and attributed to German settlers who reportedly brought an actual evergreen tree indoors and decorated it.

Roadside America documents the presence of a historical marker in Easton making this claim, while also noting that the claim is disputed (Roadside America). What appears consistently in public facing sources is the tradition itself rather than direct citation of the original 1816 documentation.

Adding context to both claims is early visual evidence from Pennsylvania. Winterthur Museum highlights watercolor sketches by John Lewis Krimmel dated between 1812 and 1820 that depict Moravian families gathered around tabletop Christmas trees. These images are among the earliest known American depictions of Christmas trees and show that tree based Christmas decorations were already part of Pennsylvania life by the early nineteenth century (Winterthur Museum).

So which town was first?

If the question is about the earliest documented Christmas tree tradition tied to a specific date and community, Bethlehem’s 1747 Moravian display is the strongest and most widely supported answer.

If the question is about the first documented use of an actual cut evergreen tree indoors, Easton’s 1816 claim is often cited but is also more openly disputed and less firmly documented in secondary sources.

The most accurate conclusion is that Bethlehem and Easton represent two different stages in the evolution of the Christmas tree in America. Bethlehem reflects an early Moravian tradition that predates the modern evergreen tree, while Easton reflects the later adoption of the tree form that most people recognize today.

You know you hate a tie, but during the Christmas season, everyone wins!

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